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The concept of school engagement has attracted increasing attention as representing a possible antidote to declining academic motivation and achievement. Engagement is presumed to be malleable, responsive to contextual features, and amenable to environmental change. Researchers describe behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement and recommend studying engagement as a multifaceted construct. This article reviews definitions, measures, precursors, and outcomes of engagement; discusses limitations in the existing research; and suggests improvements. The authors conclude that, although much has been learned, the potential contribution of the concept of school engagement to research on student experience has yet to be realized. They call for richer characterizations of how students behave, feel, and think-research that could aid in the development of finely tuned interventions.
KEYWORDS: motivation, school engagement, self-regulated learning.
The concept of school engagement has attracted growing interest as a way to ameliorate low levels of academic achievement, high levels of student boredom and disaffection, and high dropout rates in urban areas (National Research Council & Institute of Medicine, 2004). Some studies examine how contexts interact with individual needs to promote or undermine engagement (Connell, 1990; Eccles & Midgley, 1989; Skinner & Belmont, 1993). Others explore how classroom instruction and tasks can heighten intellectual engagement (Newmann, 1992; Newmann, Wehlage, & Lamborn, 1992). Yet others investigate the relationship between school engagement and dropping out (Finn & Rock, 1997; Wehlage, Rutter, Smith, Lesko, & Fernandez, 1989).
There are historical, economic, theoretical, and practical reasons for the growing interest in school engagement. Historians note a general decline in respect for authority and institutions among students; one consequence, they argue, is that students can no longer be counted on to automatically respect and comply with the behavioral and academic expectations imposed by teachers and school administrators (Janowitz, 1978; Modell & Elder, 2002). As portrayed in recent popular books, students view schooling as boring or as a mere grade game, in which they try to get by with as little effort as possible (Burkett, 2002; Pope, 2002). Studies find steep declines in motivation across the grade levels (Eccles, Midgley, & Adler, 1984; Fredricks & Eccles, 2002). Some scholars argue that these problems are most intense for minority students, whose group dropout rates are the most severe (Rumberger, 1987). These observations are particularly troubling...